Live from Social Ad Summit: 10 Tactics To Boost Your Social Media PR Skills

It often seems that you can't get through a workday without hearing about another social media strategist offering up his or her viewpoint on the latest social media PR trend or tactic. It certainly be overwhelming. However, at today's Social Ad Summit in New York, Neil Glassman of Social Times outlined 10 do's and don'ts that cut through all of the noise. Surprise, surprise, Glassman stuck mostly to the basics. His tips, after the jump. 1) Make PR a part of *not apart from* your overall brand strategy. Glassman's point here was integration. It's hard, but necessary. Fight the tendency to get into silos. 2) Press releases still work. "Writers, bloggers and journalists want good press releases," said Glassman. We agree and find many bloggers and reporters still linking to and pulling content from press releases every day. 3) Be clear about the story your pitching. "If the brand itself can't distill things down to 200 or 300 words," said Glassmnan, "how can the blogger know what to write about," he said. Even better: practice the 10-second news lead for the story before you send an email or get on the phone. 4) Personalize pitches by knowing the channel, the writer and the readers. Enough said here. PRNewser readers should know this already. 5) Every picture and logo and screen-shot and head shot tells a story. "One of the things that amazes me is that some brands have websites that don't have their logo available for download," said Glassman. We've encountered this many times. The more content you give on our website, the more reporters have to review and pull from. 6) Go heavy on meaningful content and go light on hyperbole. Any smart reporter can tell when you're spinning. 7) Be consistent and persistent. "Proactive communication makes all the difference in the world," said Glassman. No one likes a nudge, but if you consistently give good info or are a good source, reporters will remember. 8 ) Be up front about early releases and "exclusives." Don't mess up your exclusives! "Every blog wants to have every story first, but we live in reality and realize that's not the case. However if a writer sees his publication is always getting info second hand, you may have closed the channel," said Glassman. 9) Allow sufficient time for your story to be written and posted. Glassman recommended giving reporters and bloggers a heads up before things hit the news wire. This can be tricky, as many reporters hate embargoes. However, you can usually find a way to tip reporters off in advance. Again, this can be tricky, so proceed with caution. 10) No communications roadblocks. "Make it easy for us to get in touch with you," said Glassman. Again, most PRNewser readers should know this, but you'd be surprised how many corporate websites don't have contact info prominently displayed. Bonus: 11) Professioanl media relations has great ROI. "Hire a pro, do it right," said Glassman. We won't argue with that one! Follow #socialad on Twitter for live updates from the Social Ad Summit.

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Live from Social Ad Summit: 10 Tactics To Boost Your Social Media PR Skills

Joe Ciarallo

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Joe Ciarallo